First Kiss
by BrDPirateMan
Summary: Neku and Shiki want to share their first kiss together, but awkwardness makes life unnecessarily difficult for them, while plenty of other screwball mishaps ruin their chances. No matter how hard they try, they just can't kiss. And they just can't win!
1. Chapter 1

**First Kiss (Part 1)  
><strong>by BrDPirateMan

Love is colourful. It can also be a chore. Juggling the many aspects of romance to fit it into your everyday life is not easy, but to those who can handle it, it's worth everything in the world.

The multifaceted field of love is complex and ever-changing. As customs and social taboos change over the years, so do the numerous methods of courtship. Some ways that were once acceptable in the past are now simply too bizarre to even try without getting laughed at. And the lucky ones who have gone through the often punishing rituals of wooing and chasing will find that now they have another whole set of challenges to deal with: how to keep the love alive and well.

In the heart of Shibuya, a certain couple, dizzy in the afterglow of first love, was faced with a vexing problem… Not one that would threaten to shatter their relationship forever, of course, but something potentially frustrating nonetheless.

It was a beautiful day, with favourable weather and a nice cool breeze all around. On the rooftop at a school they were blissfully alone and sharing a quiet lunch together.

The boy was slightly nervous. "Shiki," he stammered, "I love you and I know you love me…"

And the girl drawled extra slowly, "Mm-hmm…?" She was gazing at him with eyes so lovey-dovey they could melt metal.

"…but this is kind of embarrassing, you know?"

"What is, Neku?" chuckled Shiki. "Feeding you?"

"I-I'm not a pro at being fed. I'm just not used to it."

She just laughed softly, ignoring his protests and extending her chopsticks, with a piece of fried tofu speared at the end, towards his mouth.

"No one's around! It's just us. Now go on, say 'Ahhh'."

With great reluctance, he pried his lips ajar, and she promptly used this window of opportunity to jam the food into his mouth before he could close it in self-defense. Neku loved Shiki's cooking – it was the best in the world – but he wished he could eat it like a normal person.

Once lunch – and feeding – was over, they sat there propped up against each other, his arm around her and her head snuggling into his chest. How they wished they could stay like that for the rest of the day, whispering sweet nothings in one another's ears.

Now, it was here on this very day that their most prominent problem was born. No, not how to initiate sex, you perverts. Just read the story and see.

"Say, Shiki," began Neku. "It hasn't been long since we started going out, right?"

"Yeah… Been about three months, to be precise. Why?"

"There's just this one little thing I've always wanted to bring up. But I don't know how to go about it…"

That got Shiki curious. "Something on your mind? Tell me. Go on, don't be shy."

"Is it really okay?"

"Of course!"

"Alright then."

He grasped her shoulders lightly, staring into her soul with piercing blue eyes. His lips trembled and he drew in a ragged, uneven breath. In fact, he was so nervous and shivering so violently that Shiki shook along with him.

"N-Neku, s-s-stop sh-shaking!" she cried, teeth chattering, "I… I c-can't e-even think pro-pro-properly like th-this!"

He let go of her, but his hands were still shaking like a magnitude 8 earthquake. It was frightening how panicky he was. This was so unlike Neku. What was it that he was getting so worked up over? At one point, Shiki contemplated splashing liquid nitrogen all over him to freeze him in place so she could stop that _damn_ shaking. Heck, if this kept up, the roof they were sitting on might eventually crack and collapse beneath their feet.

"Sh-Shiki… I… I I I I…"

She couldn't take it anymore. This was stupid! In trying to whack good sense into his head, she gave him a light painless slap.

"Neku!" she scolded. "Get a grip of yourself!"

Much to her relief, his shaking did stop.

But now, mistaking her little wake-up slap for anger, he hunched over in a crooked fetal position and started brooding in sadness, using his finger to trace formless shapes on the concrete floor.

"Er, um, I'm sorry, Neku." All she could think of now was, _Whoops!_

He didn't reply. He just sat there looking depressed, his past emo self making a mysterious comeback. After all, the girl he was in love with had slapped him! Couldn't blame him, really.

Thus began a frantic apology from Shiki. "I'm sorry! Look, all I wanted to do was to get you to finally talk. I didn't mean you any harm."

To prove her point, she even snuggled in close and brushed her cheek lovingly against his own, an action that set both of their hearts a-flutter. "Neku, you're the most important person to me and I love you. I'd never hate you."

Feeling better, Neku nevertheless spoke cautiously, as though afraid of getting slapped again, "I… I just wanted to ask you if we could kiss."

"Of course it's alright! With you I'm happy to – Wait, what?"

He was hesitant to speak up, fearing that he might incur her wrath again. But when the now-dazed Shiki told him to "C-Come again?" he had little choice.

"Shiki… would it be alright if we, you know, kissed?" He cleared his throat for a bit. "Isn't that what lovers do? And… even though we've been going out for three months now, we haven't even had our first kiss."

"Um… Th-That's true…" Needless to say, she was blushing furiously. "It never crossed our minds."

For a few stagnant seconds, neither of them knew what to say next.

Then Neku spoke, "So… wanna kiss now?"

Shiki unconsciously drew closer to him, eyes locked into his. "Well, uh… I guess that's fine with me, so…

"You go first."

Neku felt a jolt in his heart. Was she telling him to go ahead and start the kiss between them? He felt he wasn't ready at all, though. And so, chicken-hearted as he was, he said, "Oh, no, you go first."

She was only too glad to pass the ball back to him. "No, _you_ do it. _You_ go first."

"Um…ladies first?"

At last even Shiki was fed up with all of this responsibility-shirking. She snapped, giving Neku a start, "What do you mean? ! You're the guy, so aren't you supposed to take the initiative? How can you expect me, a girl, to do that? ! Are you a man? !"

This got him thinking. Hmmm… that was true. How could he call himself a man if he couldn't even achieve even the smallest of things? Although the first kiss was definitely no small matter…

Despite the increasing nervousness, however, he decided to go for it. He grasped Shiki by the shoulders with both hands, causing her to gasp in surprise. She hadn't expected him to do that. She might have thought he would hesitate, or stop and ponder how to go about engaging a kiss, but he was startlingly fast. A little too fast for her taste, in fact…

"Shiki," gulped Neku, "I'm going to kiss you now…"

Panicking, Shiki cried out, "Stop! I… I'm… I'm not ready yet!"

"B-But you told me to take the initia–"

"But you have to take note of a girl's feelings first before you attempt anything!"

Neku scratched the back of his neck in both shame and confusion. "Um… well, alright… I'll just wait for a bit, then."

"Just… don't wait too long!" huffed Shiki. "You can't keep a girl waiting either!"

"You…" Neku sighed in exasperation. "Exactly what do you want me to do?"

The girl adjusted her glasses nervously. "You know, maybe we just aren't ready yet. We really should wait. But now that we know what we want to eventually do, we can mentally prepare for it."

"Yeah…" He suddenly thought of something. "Hang on."

"Huh?"

"We've been going on about kissing and everything, but… do we even _know_ how to kiss in the first place?"

He stared at her. She stared back at him. They stared at each other. Looking for answers.

After a long silence, both of them spoke simultaneously in a small voice. "No…"

Professing their love for each other was no longer a problem. But the baton of awkwardness had now been passed on to the custom of kissing.

But Neku had a surprisingly positive view of their predicament. "Shiki," he said gently, "I want our first kiss to be perfect. To be something memorable. Let's find out what we can about kissing first… then when we're both ready we can go for it. What do you say?"

She brightened up. "Yeah… I think it's best we do that. We'll gather enough material from books and the internet and such, then get together and see what we can use."

"Sounds like a plan."

What? Now they were going to study about kissing? What was this? Some kind of exam? Really, they could've just kissed right then and there. It wouldn't have been a problem. And even if it was a bad kiss – the sloppy, slobbering kind – they could always have better ones after that, and of course they could look back and laugh at their own mistakes. But if they needed their kiss to be the one to end all kisses, then it couldn't be helped.

Most importantly, if they were too hasty with their actions, this story would end too quickly. I mean, it's only about 1,600 words long as we speak…

"Oh, and Neku?"

"Yes?"

Shiki was fiddling with her fingers coyly and fixing him with an irresistible gaze. "We may not be able to kiss yet, but… we can cuddle, right?" Without waiting, she pressed up against him and cradled his arm like a bolster. The feeling of her body in such close proximity sent shockwaves reverberating throughout Neku's entire system.

He wanted to shout with joy.

"Dammit, Shiki," he muttered, close to dying from happiness, "I love it when you hug me like that."

She just purred delightfully in response and continued to tease him with her touch. Bliss enveloped him…

XOXOXOXOXO

For the next few days after that, the couple set about doing intensive research on the art of kissing and its finer nuances.

So many questions plagued them. Where's the best place to kiss? When? How does a kiss taste like? Would they have to use their tongues? Should they have a romantic candlelit dinner first to set the mood? …Actually, scratch that. As students with limited allowance, an expensive high-grade meal in a restaurant was just not possible. So the right question should be: Should they have a romantic _bowl of ramen_ first to set the mood?

…No. Ramen at a bustling ramen joint was not romantic no matter how many lit candles you placed at your table.

They performed their own little investigations independently, not wishing to distract the other. One of the areas where their research strategies overlapped was to cull hints from their most trusted friends. They had to be very selective about it, though.

Beat wasn't the most reliable person to get information from, or the smartest for that matter… in any case what he was in love with wasn't even a person but a thing – curry. Rhyme was out of the question because she was too young and inexperienced. Neku contemplated asking some of the shopkeepers whom he had befriended over time, but decided against it. Most of them were female, and at least a couple of them had a massive crush on him. He didn't want them to get the wrong idea.

Shiki sought help from Eri, her hip and fashionable friend. The latter had boyfriends before, and had her share of dumping guys and getting dumped herself, so naturally she should have some experience in the fine art of kissing. However, in her own words, "kissing's kinda hard to explain, Shiki. There're so many things involved, like proximity and the length of time and the undulations of the tongue."

"Undulations? Eew."

Although Eri couldn't provide Shiki with the desired information, she did leave her with an interesting tidbit to mull over: if you can tie a knot in a cherry stalk using only your mouth, that's supposed to make you a good kisser. She managed to pull off this feat and urged Shiki to try it out at least once. So what happened to the gentler half of this story's couple? She choked instead, and Eri had to use the Heimlich maneuver on her to save her.

Could this mean that Shiki was a terrible kisser?

Meanwhile, Neku was sipping unenthusiastically on a cup of coffee at WildKat, one of the more popular cafés in Shibuya. He was here for answers to his nagging questions, and for that he turned to its proprietor, a Mr Sanae Hanekoma.

"Like the coffee?" chuckled Mr H, as Neku often called him.

"…It's… bitter. And I scalded my tongue."

"Then you're doing well! One step closer to being a true coffee connoisseur."

Neku winced at the pain in his mouth. "Look, I was hoping you could give me some tips on how to, you know… with Shiki."

Hanekoma's jovial face suddenly turned grim and serious. "Don't tell me you're planning to do _that_. Both of you are still underage!"

A startled Neku swallowed too much of his coffee and his throat felt like fire. "Mr H! Of course we're not! I just want to know how to… uh…"

"…propose to her?" jabbed a confused Hanekoma. "Neku, you're… still underage for that too. I know you love each other but… wait till you older."

"No! That's not it!"

"Why don't you just come out and say it? I can't understand what you're talking about if you keep beating about the bush like this."

"Well, uh… Shiki and I have been together for three months now, and we want to have our first kiss… but we just don't know how."

Hanekoma had a distant look in his eyes as he recalled some fond memory of his younger days in a typical "flashback" moment. "Youth and love are such a great combination, don't you think? Ah… the days of my youth. Like the scent of fresh lemon, you see."

"L-Lemon? I swear I've heard that phrase somewhere before in a video game…"

"And you're asking me for tips?" The shop owner scratched the back of his head in a completely relaxed manner, which reflected his easygoing attitude towards life in general. "Gee, boss, that's a hard one."

"Come on," pleaded Neku. "You've got to know _something!_"

"See, that's the thing, boss. I don't have much experience in these sorts of matters. I was pretty popular back in the day – had an afro, even – but I was never committed for long enough to even get to the kissing stage."

Hanekoma with a giant beehive afro? Somehow, Neku could envision that. But that wasn't important right now!

"What? ! So you've never kissed before, Mr H?"

"Keep your voice down, Phones! People are staring at us. Bad for my business. And yes, when it comes to mouth-to-mouth I'm a bona fide virgin. Sorry, I can't help you here."

Neku slumped in his bar stool, disappointed. "Th-That's just sad."

For the first time Hanekoma looked annoyed, although it was very slight and hardly noticeable. "C-Come on, is that how you treat someone who gives you premium-grade coffee?"

_Premium or not,_ thought Neku, _it's still bitter._

A flock of young men and women in gaudy clothes sauntered into the coffee shop, craving ambience, classiness and a dose of good strong java for that kick to the brain. That was Hanekoma's cue to get back into action.

"Look, I know you're a friend of mine," said Hanekoma, "but I'm afraid I've got customers to serve. Why don't you go ask J– "

Neku shuddered and replied with a vehement "NO" in capital letters. Imagining Homer Simpson as the Composer was less painful (mmm, paradise).

Hanekoma just laughed and the conversation came to an abrupt end.

In the end, the amount of knowledge that Neku and Shiki learnt from their friends was… none. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

XOXOXOXOXO

But wait! All was not lost! Where there's a will, there's a way. And where there's printed and digital media, there's information!

Neku crawled the web, summoning the power of every search engine he could get his hands on, to net himself much-needed morsels of information. The internet was like a gigantic treasure chest waiting to be opened. He couldn't wait to see what it had to offer.

He was spoilt for choice, really. Amongst all the entries that appeared on the search engine were blogs, agony aunt columns, and proper websites that were devoted to the well-being of healthy relationships. "Simple tips to inject some excitement in your love life!" screamed one headline. "Make her fall in love with you all over again," claimed another.

"Hmmm," muttered Neku, "so many to choose from… Which one should I look at first… Huh? Hey now, what's this?"

Something caught his attention: the link of a YouTube video dubiously called "Kissing 101". The video still that accompanied it looked innocent enough, and it had a similarly ambiguous description consisting of four words: "How to kiss properly". Text articles and FAQs were helpful, but videos should be even better, according to Neku's logic. He grew excited at the prospect of getting some quick tips from the pros on how to kiss beautifully and tastefully.

So he clicked on the link, but the video that opened up before him was nothing that he thought it to be.

"Kissing 101" turned out to be a crummy home-made video of two teenage girls engaging in a lip lock. The lightly grainy quality failed to conceal the suggestiveness portrayed by the two amateur actresses. He was completely stunned. He hadn't expected this. And this wasn't what he was looking for. But somewhere in his psyche, even though his good side was urging him to stop watching and move on to something more productive, his inner pervert was enjoying this. And that inner pervert of his was stronger than his sense of moral goodness. What was it about a couple of girls doing naughty things that he found so captivating?

As he watched their antics grow increasingly outrageous, his veins began to churn and boil. Then, not even halfway through the three-minute video, a great fountain of blood gushed out of his nose with so much force that his head recoiled backwards violently. Had the force been any greater, he could have killed himself with whiplash injuries to the neck.

Unconscious he sat in his chair, while his blood-stained laptop continued to play the final moments of "Kissing 101".

Neku's mother thought she heard something strange going on in his room, and on a curious whim, she opened the door to check, only to be greeted with a grisly scene of her son seemingly killed in a brutal, bloody way.

She screamed and fainted on the spot.

Luckily for him the video had finished playing by then and his own blood obscured the screen so she couldn't know what he was really watching. She wasn't averse to dishing out punishments of being grounded at home…

XOXOXOXOXO

Shiki had a more sensible approach to doing things. She knew that the internet was unpredictable and unreliable at the best of times, so she opted to browse for books on the subject of romantic oscular activity. Printed media was more dependable as it was subject to proofreading and quality control, after all.

Finding the one gem that would answer all her questions proved to be as hard as looking for a needle in a haystack the size of the Pacific Ocean. None of the bookstores she went to had anything she wanted. Of course she wasn't expecting to see, say, a sort of kissing encyclopaedia or even _Kissing for Dummies_, but the rather worrying thing was that she couldn't find any books on love and relationships.

You'd have thought that with so many health and fitness magazines around, there was sure to be an article about spicing up the usual routine of feeding Neku fried tofu and giggling girlishly. But… nope. No luck for that month.

It's not like Shiki could go right up to any bookstore owner and ask, "Hi! Do you have any books on kissing?" That'd get her in trouble.

She was mindlessly flitting from one bookstore to another when she suddenly spotted the Shibu-Q Heads department store through the expansive window.

A light bulb lit up inside her head. Of course! The Nishimura Drugs Pharmacy was in there, and it sold not just health supplements but also a small variety of health books, some of which were focused on emotional well-being. Maybe there was something she could find there!

Off she went, making a beeline for the shelves that stocked the aforementioned books, careful not to linger around too long in front of the ones about improving sexu– er, well, you know what I mean. She and Neku would never do that sort of thing… Well, of course there was the slightest chance of that happening, but…

"Eek!" she gave an instinctive yelp. "Oh man, gotta focus!" She slapped both of her own cheeks lightly in an attempt to force herself to concentrate, and was about to pick up where she left off when she noticed a figure approaching her.

The owner of the pharmacy, Dr Fumiko, sashayed over, lab coat billowing majestically in her wake. She affixed soft gentle eyes at Shiki, asking politely, "May I help you, miss?"

Shiki knew about her. She was the most famous pharmacist in Shibuya, well known for her beauty and expertise in medicine. She was also very kind and genuinely cared for her customers, and on top of that she exuded an elegance that made women envious. There was never a time when she made one feel uncomfortable in her presence, not like the grumpy old man at the local herbal medicine store.

_This might be my best chance,_ thought Shiki. _Dr Fumiko can be trusted. She might be able to help me. Here goes!_

"Well, Doctor, see… it's kind of embarrassing to say…"

"Don't worry," said Dr Fumiko soothingly. "You can tell me anything. I'll help you to the best of my ability."

"Er, um… Then d-do you have any books on… well, how to kiss?"

The good doctor was completely taken by surprise. In all her years at the Nishimura Drugs Pharmacy, she had come across a variety of characters ranging from housewives buying vitamins for their families, blushing hormonally-charged teenagers buying their first condoms, and even a number of male suitors (all of whom she turned down, by the way, so don't bother trying). But this was the first time she had come across someone who specifically wanted to know about kissing.

But as initially surprised as she may be, she still maintained a warm smile and a helpful attitude. "Well… it's not my place to pry, but are you in a relationship?"

"Y-Yeah."

"I see… Now, we don't have any books on kissing per se…" She started scanning the bookshelves meticulously. "…but we do have some suitable alternatives that you may find interesting, like… this one, for example." Having found what she thought was a good enough candidate to sate Shiki's curiosity, Dr Fumiko fished out the book in question and held it up for her to see.

Shiki almost fainted upon seeing the title on the cover.

After all, what need had she right now for _How to Have Safe and Fun Sex: The Non-Embarrassing Guide_? !

The title was highly contradictory too. Despite what it claimed, it was totally embarrassing. And the manga characters that adorned the cover didn't help matters. It was almost like a Manga Guide to Bedroom Antics. And it was just… wrong.

"I-Isn't this a bit excessive, Doctor? !"

In a calm, collected and professional manner, Dr Fumiko said, "I understand your apprehension, miss. However, it really is a very good and informative book, and it's written in an entertaining way too. It outlines not just basic techniques but also tips and tricks to make the experience a memorable one each time. It's good enough for even teenagers to read."

"B-Basic techniques…" Not surprisingly, the shy and conservative Shiki was reeling at the thought of all the smut that must be inside that book. "Wait a minute, what has this got to do with kissing, anyway? !"

"There's a small section in the book about ora–"

Shiki tried to hold her own swaying head steady as she interrupted her, "Stop! Okay, thanks, Doctor. It sounds like a good book, but I have to say that despite the credit you give it, it's still incredibly mortifying to read it, don't you think? !"

Dr Fumiko smiled. "That's the main impression I get from a lot of people who take a quick look at the cover," she chuckled. Just as she was about to return the book to the shelves, Shiki stopped her again.

"Wait! That being said…"

"Yes, miss?"

"…h-how much is it?"

XOXOXOXOXO

"So, uh… found anything, Shiki?"

"To be honest, Neku, there isn't much."

Having decided to finally end their research, the couple was now at Miyashita Park, sitting on a bench in the welcome shade of a large tree, exchanging information gathered thus far.

"I'm stuck too," said Neku sweeping his orange locks over his head.

"Well, I did find something…"

"You did?" He perked up. "Really?"

As she drew the book from her briefcase, she suddenly caught a glimpse of the cover and remembered that it was her newly-bought copy of _How to Have Safe and Fun Sex_! The horror! Only goodness knew what weird thoughts it would induce in Neku if she showed it to him!

"Wow, Shiki, I didn't know you wanted to do this kind of thing so quickly," said the Neku in her self-thought up nightmare, before he closed in for the kill…

She screamed. "Ack!"

The Neku in the real world was alarmed, and so were all nearby pedestrians. "Wh-What's wrong, Shiki?"

"N-Nothing!" she said, blushing and waving her arms at great speed. "Nothing at all!"

"What do you mean? And… you said you did find something, right? Well, go on and show me."

"Actually… f-forget I said anything, ha ha ha!"

Neku stared at her in confusion but let it go, much to her relief. Perhaps some things were better left unknown…

"Oh well," he sighed, stretching himself, "I guess the research thing didn't go so well, did it. You'd have thought that with so many websites and books out there, you'd at least find something. But all I've managed to dig up was aphrodisiac recipes and safe sex tips." He coughed and grew red in embarrassment at the last few words.

Shiki gasped, "Y-You found _those_ too? !"

"Found what?"

"Er, um… n-nothing! Again!" Funny how they could find nearly the exact same things. Not only do great minds think alike, they also have about the same amount of luck, eh?

Ultimately, neither teenager learned anything useful. All they had to show for it was that they were still green, inexperienced and awkward from a romantic standpoint. However, from all of this Neku drew a logical enough conclusion.

"Well… maybe kissing is the sort of thing that just isn't taught in books. It's something you have to experience for yourself to know what it's like."

Considering how fruitless their last few days had been, Shiki had no choice but to agree. "I think you're right."

To her surprise, she found herself grabbed by the shoulders gently and swiveled round to face him. She discerned a slight tremble in his fingertips. His cheeks were glowing like a traffic light and he was apparently too nervous to glance at her because he was busy looking away. Something about the way he appeared so strangely insecure made him look adorable in Shiki's eyes. She wondered what was up, but didn't wonder long.

"Shiki, um… n-now's as good a time as ever, so… w-wanna make out?"

Her brain was spinning like a blender. What did he just say? !

"Wh-Wh-What? !" A cold sweat broke out over her entire body. Suddenly, being in Neku's gentle grasp made her feel trapped and vulnerable. Of course she wanted to kiss him. But… "Neku! Why now? Why here? ! We're in Miyashita Park! We're in a public place!"

Worried that she may push him away in disgust, he softened his approach. "I… I know, Shiki, but there's no one here." It was true. The park was pretty much deserted, save for two or three elderly men and a lone skateboarder, none of who took an interest in them. Behind them was an array of trees and bushes, grown tightly together like a natural curtain, that provided ample cover. They had all the privacy they needed… sort of.

"You… You really want to? R-Right here?"

"Better than doing it in school and getting caught."

Shiki felt a chill up her spine. That _would_ be bad. But being caught in public was arguably much worse!

However, she didn't think it would be so bad as long as no one was looking. "Alright… But this is our first kiss, okay? I know we don't have much of an idea but try not to mess it up too much."

"Yeah…"

Neku leaned in close, very very slowly he did it, like closing the gap between them would take a million years. His palms were sweaty, his heart was pounding, and his brain was overheating. This was it! This was going to be their very first kiss, and he would be darned if he didn't do a good job at it.

When their lips were about three inches apart, however, she mumbled his name.

"Y-Yes, Shiki?" muttered Neku.

"Aren't you supposed to close your eyes when you kiss? It's creepy of you to leave them open like that."

She called him creepy! He felt a pang of hurt, but sucked it up and swallowed it whole.

"Ah, um… you're right. Sorry. But you do the same too, Shiki."

Back to business. He made sure his eyes were closed tight, but hoped that he didn't kiss her nose by mistake. Her warm breath billowed onto his face, making him so giddy he thought his insides were melting into goo.

But when they were two inches away from kissing, Shiki spoke up again. "Wait!"

"Wh-What?"

Shiki dug around in her pocket and produced a roll of breath mints, popping one into her mouth and chewing it rapidly. "I'm just afraid that I might have bad breath."

"Um, okay… Go ahead, but…"

"Here, you take one too."

Another pang of hurt. "D-Does my breath smell that bad?"

"No," giggled Shiki lightly, slipping a mint into Neku's mouth. "But this is our first one, right? I'm just… taking precautions."

He went through a mental checklist of things to do before their much-anticipated kiss. Closed eyes? Check. Fresh breath? Check. What else was there? Suddenly, just when their lips were within a half-inch of touching each other, he stopped.

"Is there anything else that I might have missed?" he asked.

"Huh? What'd you mean?"

"I thought you'd have stopped me right about now. So… is there anything I've missed?"

She couldn't think of anything. Everything seemed to be in order. More importantly, they were so close. She just wanted to feel the rush of making out, and she was impatient to begin.

"No, there's nothing. Now come on, kiss me."

Neku was filled with delight. At last! The moment of truth had come! Finally, they were going to take another great step towards reinforcing the love in their relationship. From this there would be better things to look forward to. Like more dates, or more intimate cuddling, or even – in years to come – marriage! Ah, how nice it was to fantasise about the future. It would truly be –

WHACK!

No, not "wack". It's "WHACK".

Before he could do anything, a skateboard inexplicably flew in from nowhere and hit him in the side of the head like a sledgehammer. He was subsequently knocked unconscious.

"Neku? !" Shiki shook him by the shoulders, but yielded no positive results. "Neku! Are you okay? ! Say something!"

The person whom the skateboard belonged to rushed over to retrieve it and apologise. "Is everybody fine?" he asked with concern. "I'm sorry! I was practicing my tricks way over there, but as I was about to navigate this ramp, I slipped and the skateboard flew out from under my feet! I'm sorry it had to hit you!"

Shiki looked at him incredulously while Neku lay in a ragdoll position on the bench, stars swirling around his head. How does such a thing even happen in the first place?

Little did the hapless couple know that this would mark the beginning of a series of failed attempts at kissing. Apparently, fate wanted a good laugh by making them suffer for a while.


	2. Chapter 2

**First Kiss (Part 2)  
><strong>by BrDPirateMan

Neku arrived in school the next day with a swollen, bandaged head. It gave him some notable problems like a pounding headache and an overall moody attitude, so during lunch he had to retire to the nurse's office to rest for a little while. And brood about his unfortunate accident from yesterday.

His loyal girlfriend Shiki accompanied him, sitting in a chair by the bed he was sitting on, feeding him more of her outstanding fried tofu as usual. It helped to lessen the pain and his emo-ness.

"Here, Neku. Say 'Ahhh'…"

"It's alright… I… I'm not an invalid and I can feed myself."

"I know," said Shiki with a mischievous wink, "but it's much more fun this way. Go on, say 'Ahhh'. You know you want to!"

He really didn't… But she was so cute and it just wasn't done ignoring her request… er, demand, command, whatever… With a little reluctance he complied and parted his lips, and the pristine taste of fried tofu entered and permeated throughout his mouth.

"What's more," continued Shiki, "you're not exactly feeling very healthy at the moment, so it's my job to take care of you… Um, Neku? What's wrong?"

He was so moved that he couldn't squeeze out a sensible reply. But Shiki was waiting for his answer with a concerned look on her pretty face. Stumbling for an answer, he blurted out the first thing he could think of.

"I… I love you very much, Shiki."

She almost dropped her lunchbox when her heart bounced violently inside her entire body. Her face grew red and she had to gasp her words out. "Oh…! Um, gee, I already know that, but it's still nice to hear that from you!"

"Y-Yeah…"

"I love you too, Neku…"

Suddenly an idea came to her. It was not a bad idea at all.

"Neku?"

"Uh…?"

"Say, we never actually got round to doing it… kissing, I mean." She pressed the tips of her index fingers together, blushing steadily. "How about we do that now?"

He nearly choked on his tofu. Luckily he didn't, but he swallowed it whole, and it took a whole bottle of water from a frantic Shiki to force it down his blocked gullet. In a way, choking was much easier.

"Why here?" he spluttered when he recovered. "We're in school! If someone comes in…"

"But we're alone, Neku… It's the perfect place to make out. And…" Shiki took a moment to swallow the imaginary lump in her throat. "And… if we lock the door, we can have all the privacy to ourselves…" Her voice grew smaller and harder to hear as she spoke, and he had to lean in closer and closer to hear her out. By the time she got to the last word he was so close that their faces were right in front of each other. Separated by nine very intimate centimeters.

Startled, Shiki reared back to regain breathing space. "Nekuwhatareyoudoing!"

At this sudden outburst, Neku recoiled in shock in much the same way as she did, but he forgot that the wall was right behind him. His head smashed into the concrete… and let's not forget that his head was already injured to begin with, hit by a flying skateboard of all things!

Oh, and there was a resounding crunch that would make a hardened criminal wince.

He clutched at his scalp, trying to rub the pain away. Shiki was rightfully alarmed.

"Neku!" she yelped. "Your head!"

"Agh… the world is spinning… way too fast…"

She pounced onto the bed right next to him, but it was purely out of concern, because she wanted to examine his poor skull. There was no lust, no hidden desire, no taking advantage of the situation. She just wanted to make sure that her boyfriend wouldn't die (ooh, how morbid). But Neku thought otherwise.

"Sh-Shiki? What are –"

"Hold still and let me take a look at it!" snapped Shiki, nudging obscenely close to him.

"I'm fine, but – GWAAAH!"

"I said hold still! It's hard to see if there're any lumps with all that spiky cactus hair of yours, so stop squirming!"

"My head… not a… cactus!" gasped Neku in pain. "And besides –"

"Besides what? !" grumbled an irritated Shiki, who was still oblivious to the bodily position she was in.

"– your knee is crushing me!"

"Huh? !"

Shiki looked down, and it turned out that in trying to find a good position so she could look closely at Neku's head, her left knee had wedged itself right between his legs. His family jewels were practically dying to be saved from extinction. He had no intention of becoming a eunuch, and a young one at that!

"I-I'm sorry!" She leapt away, freeing him from her knee, much to his relief. But now, Neku had to contend with _two_ different injuries… He didn't want to make her feel guilty by displaying his pain, however, so he tried to pretend like nothing was wrong. Not much, anyway.

"Eh, I'm fine," he lied in a nonchalant manner, though it was hard to do so. "That was nothing."

It backfired, but in a way he never would have thought of: Shiki reprimanded him. "You shouldn't try to act cool, Neku. If you're in pain, be a man and accept it. Now come on, let's see what we can do about this." She checked the nurse's office for any medical supplies that might lessen his discomfort.

Now that she had chided him, somehow the pain in his groin felt ten times worse… a dull, soul-sucking pain…

He spent the rest of lunch with a bag of ice on his nether regions. It was quite the sight.

"I… didn't hurt you that much, did I?" asked Shiki uneasily, her eyes shifting every so often to you-know-where. It was hard to tell which was worse, her guilt or her embarrassment.

"It stings plenty but… I guess I'll survive…"

"I'm sorry, Neku…"

It was almost time for their lunch break to end; ten minutes till classes would resume. And although it was a bad time, Shiki was secretly itching to fulfill her want to kiss him in private. What better chance was there than now? They were alone and it was quiet.

"Neku?" she gulped. "I don't really want to bring this up now, but…"

He nudged the cold compress slightly. "What is it?"

"Um, we have yet to kiss."

Shiki shifted closer (being careful not to cause anymore collateral damage) and Neku gave a start. Seeing her come so close with such a romantic intention made his body temperature rise to increasingly dangerous levels. He could very well melt that ice bag.

"Wh-What? You want to kiss now? !"

"Please?" said Shiki, coy and demure. "Now's the best opportunity, but… if you're not keen, I wouldn't blame you…"

"N-No," stammered Neku, clearing his throat. "I'm… I'm fine. With it. Well… I don't mind if you want to kiss me here, but we ought to be careful."

"So we can really kiss?"

"Sure…"

She smiled. "Okay… Close your eyes."

This he did, but he didn't expect her to clasp his face with both of her hands, much like how so many couples have done in the movies and in TV dramas. It was such an incredible sensation that he thought his brain might shut down. An inaudible whisper from her intensified his feelings of excitement and anticipation, "Neku… I love you…"

Oh my god! We're getting to a good part! Get the popcorn ready and enjoy the show!

They were going to share a kiss, the sweetest, warmest kind… and it really got Neku's blood pumping. That didn't help his headache at all, but he didn't really care or mind. Shiki would be his doctor and she could cure him with those soft luscious lips of hers. He couldn't wait. It didn't matter to him that he had fried tofu breath.

Shiki didn't mind either. After a lifetime of being single and regarded as "ordinary" and even "boring" by many guys, it was refreshing and gratifying to finally be with a boy who saw her inner beauty and loved her for who she was. She never would have thought that the day would come when she would even have her first kiss and here she was. Boy, did she want his lips… and did she want them now.

But just as they were about to seal their place in history as another successful love story, the door swung open. He jumped at the sudden intrusion and she jumped, and when the school nurse who had opened the door came inside and saw the two in such an intimate position, she jumped too. Everyone had a good jump in there. So did the ice bag.

Oh no! Our hapless couple realized too late that they had forgotten to lock the door!

Frozen in time, everyone stayed where they were, their bodies paralysed from shock. The school nurse looked on in horror and tried to piece together what might have happened in her office while it was being occupied by these two teenage lovebirds. They were about to kiss, so of course, they were a couple. And for some unfathomable reason, the boy had a cold compress on a certain sensitive area. Why, pray tell, was it there?

Then, as the most likely scenario unfolded in her imagination, she grew pale in shock. Could it be that these two actually did some… er, "adult" things, and went overboard? They must have been inexperienced about it and made some pretty bad mistakes too… how else could he have an injured groin? !

She stuttered, "Wh-What have you kids been doing? !"

"N-Nothing!" yelped Shiki. "Nothing at all!" Panicking, she grabbed Neku by the wrist, leapt off the bed and forcibly dragged him in the direction of the open door, trying to edge past the nurse.

"Sorry! We're very sorry! W-We wouldn't get in your way. Goodbye!"

Before Neku could offer his own apology, he was nearly out the door, but in the haste, confusion and hullaballoo, his head smacked right into the doorway.

And he passed out for real. Again.

"Neku? Neku!" Shiki was at the collapsed Neku's side together with the nurse, trying to resuscitate him. But it was to no avail. He was totally unconscious.

Guess all that popcorn was wasted, huh…

XOXOXOXOXO

To make a long story short, Neku managed to escape death by repeated concussions, but he, along with Shiki, could not escape the scolding that the nurse gave them. The couple explained everything that had happened – the whole truth – and reassured her that they weren't engaging in any sort of activities of a risqué nature. Luckily for them, although the nurse was angry, she was kind enough to keep their tryst a secret from the school as long as they didn't attempt to do it again in her office.

They kept their promise, up till this day even, but they didn't learn their lesson until later. And that lesson was to never ever try to incorporate romance in your school life. No matter how quiet and private a place may seem, somehow something would crop up and spoil their chances, often in a rude unwelcome way.

Since the nurse's office was now out of bounds, they tried a different strategy. A few, actually. All of which involved finding a place good enough to make out relatively unmolested. But no matter where they went, be it an empty classroom, the science laboratory, or even the hidden alley behind the school, they would always be found out and they would never get to kiss. Classmates, upperclassmen and underclassmen alike, janitors and even the scary security guard all had the chance of a lifetime to disturb Neku and Shiki's love life… unintentionally of course. The boy and girl found no peace.

In a final desperate move, they settled for the rooftop where they often had lunch together. But before they could even start, the sky turned dark strangely quickly, meaning that a thunderstorm was about to descend upon the city. To make matters even more bizarre, a fork of lightning struck very close to where Neku was sitting, nearly zapping a chunk of his beautiful hair off. It put them off dining there for a while, and the poor boy developed astraphobia.

By the way, astraphobia is the fear of thunder and lightning.

"I guess school simply isn't the place for romance, huh?" said Shiki, as she and Neku were walking back from school one day after a harrowing near-miss with a teacher.

Neku sighed in disappointment from yet another failed attempt. "I guess not…"

"Well, let's not give up!" She sounded cheerful despite everything. "If we can't ever get anything done in school, we could always do it somewhere else, right?"

_Somewhere else…_ He took a quick glance around, and saw that they were going to pass through A-East. Now, like many famous streets in Shibuya, A-East was boxed in on both sides by buildings, making it shadier than say, the more open and airy Scramble Crossing. And where there was shade and alleys, there was sure to be privacy…

He was right. A-East was also one of the less populated areas in Shibuya, so that meant there were less people milling about. Today, it was strangely bare. Not a single person was around. He did think it was odd, but chose not to overanalyze things.

"Shiki," he said, subtly guiding her to a nearby wall.

"Neku, what's up? And… what are you…?"

She found herself being pressed against the wall by Neku, with her back to it. He was very gentle about it and made sure not to hurt her.

"Say, Shiki," he whispered. "How about we do it here?"

"Do what? Y-You mean kissing?"

"Yeah… It's not a bad place, don't you think? Not many people and all."

"But…" She took a nervous glance all around. The absence of pedestrians put her heart at ease somewhat, though she was still understandably apprehensive. It was more open than the places in school that they've tried… but it was a street lined with shops and buildings with _windows_ through which people could spy on them!

She bit her lip. "Gee… I don't know about this…"

"Being in the Reapers' Game taught me something, Shiki," said Neku. "I learnt never to take life for granted. So we should always seize every moment we have."

She sighed. "Oh, alright. You've convinced me, Neku. I guess I don't really mind…"

He had her trapped between himself and the wall behind her. When he brought up a hand to stroke her cheek, she twitched in surprise at first, but settled down to enjoy the touch of his deft gentle fingers. Slowly he brought his face towards hers. She grew nervous but trusted him to make their first kiss a good one, even though it was at hardly the best place for it.

Then suddenly, the massive double doors just beside them swung open, knocking Neku down onto his hands and feet. Shiki immediately went to his side and helped him up, before being distracted by a colossal rift in the universe. And by that, I mean that someone she recognized had walked out of those doors. Someone famous. Someone who had a peculiar habit of tagging the word "Fabulous!" to everything.

"It's… It's…" she was struggling to tame her nerves. "It's The Prince! ! !"

Abruptly forgetting about Neku and leaving him behind, she teleported right in front of her favourite idol and started squealing and going on about how she's his biggest fan and how much she loved his music and all that nonsense. Her manic fangirl behaviour seemed to act as a beacon to hail other fangirls in the area, because out of nowhere an entire horde of teenage girls flooded in and crowded around The Prince. Some of them, in their bid to get closer to him, trampled over poor Neku and turned him into a human pancake.

As he struggled to peel himself off of the asphalt, he tried to make out where his girlfriend was amongst the dozens of crazies that were causing such a ruckus. He couldn't. He smartly stayed out of the way lest he should get stomped again, but he felt terrible and betrayed that the love of his life had ignored him to vie for the attention of this aggravatingly popular singer.

"All of you girls are so nice to me," said The Prince with his trademark manly charm, making all of his fans sigh. "I'm touched. Even before my concert has even begun it looks like the auditorium will be bursting at the seams."

Apparently, the place where the double doors led was the concert stage where many of Japan's famous singers performed. The Prince was using it earlier to practice for an upcoming concert, and now he was taking a break. But true to his over-the-top melodramatic ways – whenever he did something it always was in style – he had to open the double doors majestically and oh-so-suddenly, and that was when Neku met an unfortunate and premature end to his would-be kiss with Shiki.

He thought he could hear her voice above the clamour. "You're so amazing, Mr Oji!" she yapped. "I especially liked the wistful way you sang 'Down In The Dumps'!" Several other fangirls nodded in agreement.

"Oh, you flatter me," The Prince said. "Then be sure not to miss my concert this August! You'll have a blast of a time!"

The legion of fangirls, Shiki included, screamed in unison and in insane happiness. Neku's heart dropped to his shoes. What was so good about Eiji Oji anyway? ! He felt as though his wounds had not simply been sprinkled with salt. More like his wounds were generously glazed with chilli peppers, wasabi, curry powder and hot mustard. And left to marinade overnight.

Oh, the pain that bruised the tomato of his soul… Wait, wasn't that said by someone else already?

XOXOXOXOXO

"Uh… Um… Neku…"

"What? !"

"P-Please don't shout like that…" said Shiki sheepishly, but still retaining a little glee from her chance encounter with The Prince (after all, she got his autograph!). "I'm sorry for earlier… It's bad of me to do that to you."

"You got that right," grumbled Neku, who had switched over to angry kid mode. With arms crossed in anger, he continued, "I know you're a fan of that guy but did you have to desert me for a whole hour? !"

"I'm sorry… Really I am. I… I know! I'll make it up to you… But… Hmmm… what do I do…"

He sighed, throwing a hand into the air. "I just don't understand you Prince fangirls. Whatever, I'll let this slide. Make me some more of that fried tofu of yours and we're even."

Shiki lit up and felt better. "Sure! I'll make an extra-large lunchbox for you, okay? I'll even add in some haddock tempura as a bonus."

She was a great cook. This was a pretty good deal he was in. "Then… I'll be waiting."

"N-Neku… you're drooling on the floor."

"Nonsense! I'm just… sweating profusely from the chin."

"That sounds disgusting either way…"

XOXOXOXOXO

Following a few more unsuccessful attempts at kissing outside of school, the couple decided to haul their sorry butts over to a completely different location altogether.

So far they had tried a deserted street alley, but were quickly chased away by a pack of fiercely territorial cats; the Station Underpass was nice and dark, like A-East, but it proved to be a bad idea because the train pulled up right in front of them as they were embracing, much to the amusement of the commuters who got off; and at a quiet unseen corner table of a noodle joint, where they tried to sneak a kiss in… well, let's just say it was a complete mess. Startled by the sudden appearance of the waiter who had come to serve them their ramen, Shiki gave a little scream which caused said waiter to lose balance in shock and spill hot ramen sauce all over himself.

He had to be sent to the hospital. Poor guy. And you know what? It was his first day at work too.

Nothing they tried worked! Their lips never got the chance to touch each other! It was one disaster after another.

That was why, on one particular Saturday, they made it a point to head to the beach that was situated at Shibuya's outskirts, in hopes of satisfying their romantic urges, which were by now charged with about a gazillion hormones, suppressed no thanks to their failures.

Their trip to the beach did nothing to alleviate the effect those very hormones had on them, because it was the first time they had seen each other without clothes on. Without _many_ clothes on, anyway.

Under a parasol erected in the sand sat our beloved awkward couple, nervous and fidgeting like they were about to confess to each other all over again… ah, such sweet memories of youth and all. Even though they secretly wanted to drink in the sight of each other's bodies with their thirsty eyes, they were still very shy. They may have their tasty little fantasies and twisted daydreams but when it came to the real thing in the flesh, right next to them at that, they became very tame and cowardly and all "oh-no-I-couldn't-do-something-like-that".

Still, they didn't want to waste their fine afternoon at the beach by doing nothing. At the very least, they should say something… initiate a conversation to ease themselves into the fun of things.

Neku spoke first. "Uh…"

Shiki was still hesitant to glance his way. "Yes?"

He was struggling for the right thing to say. Anything that would rid them of their ridiculous shyness. "Um… that bikini looks nice on you."

"Th-Thanks… Er…" She still wouldn't look at him yet, now even more so because she had a blush to hide. Wait, for what reason did she have to hide her blushes anyway? After a while, she blurted out, "W-Well, those shorts look good on you."

Neku complimenting her on her swimsuit was fine, but somehow… it wasn't so fine the other way around, and she realized this. It just seemed so wrong.

"Agh, sorry," she sighed, "I know I sound like a pervert."

"Hey, don't worry about it. Besides," he said with a kind smile and an arm around her, "we're a couple now. We should be more honest with each other, right?"

"That's true…" She let out a giggle. "Heh!"

"What is it?"

"You're nice, Neku." She ruffled his hair affectionately, and his own blush mirrored hers. This little scene between them was so irresistibly cute and heartwarming that the romance buff in you will wish you could strangle them out of happiness.

Now that they were more relaxed, they faced each other and made small talk just like they always did whenever and wherever. Aside from the fact that they were in their swimwear at the beach on a warm afternoon, what they were doing was no different from their daily routines. Soon, however, the topic of kissing inevitably came to mind, and suddenly they were in a quandary again.

"So… here we are," said Neku. "We came here so we could have our first kiss, but… what now?"

Shiki had no answers for him. Just as baffled, she could only fix him with a look that said, "Any ideas?"

But even then, she was smart enough to recognize that while they may or may not have problems with lip-on-lip action, they had come all the way to the beach, so they might as well squeeze some fun in while they were at it.

"How about we talk about the kissing later and go have a swim for now?" she said, smiling. "It'll be a waste if we don't, wouldn't it?"

"That's a plan I can get behind. Maybe it'll clear our heads long enough to figure out something."

Indeed, it was a good idea. Shame it didn't go as planned. Wanna know why? Ah well, I guess I'd have to tell you either way, so let's get down to business already.

The plan was to take a nice cool dip in the ocean and have fun, and perhaps at the end of all this, they'd be refreshed enough to think things through. And in the best case scenario, they could finally and literally savour the sweet taste of romance.

The problem was that even though they were swimming, they weren't exactly having fun because they were too preoccupied with formulating ways with which to tackle their current predicament. They had intense frowns from intense thinking, but… who the heck frowns while they're swimming? !

_What should I do?_ groaned Neku in his thoughts as he was lazily doing a back-paddle. _I'm a man. I have to think carefully, for Shiki's sake. If I do the wrong thing, she'll be furious. But if I don't do something, eventually she'll be furious. If I wait for too long, she'll be furious. And supposing we manage to kiss and it's not to her liking, she'll be furious… What a furious fix I'm in._

While Shiki was doing slow laps in a small circle, she had similar doubts in her head too. _Neku is very nice to me, and I'm happy that he loves me. But would he do something perverted to me while we're kissing? Would he lick my neck or… agh, no! Of course he wouldn't… I think this way because I've been reading too much of that stupid book I bought at Dr Fumiko's pharmacy. Hmmm… Should I lay down some basic do's and don'ts of kissing? Goodness, wouldn't that be just too weird? Argh, I don't know what to do._

Oh boy… These two never have it easy.

"Oof!"

"Ow… Neku?"

They didn't look where they were going because they were thinking too hard, and they collided with each other as a result. A hasty apology from both of them followed, after which they found themselves floating together in close proximity, staring bashfully at their own reflections instead of each other. Their earlier thoughts were straining their ability to think clearly.

The afternoon was dwindling away and giving in to the evening. The sun was starting to glow orange instead of bright yellow, spreading its rays onto the ocean. By this time the beachgoers were thinning out, and now only a pocketful remained, and of the lot, most of them were lying down and relaxing. Neku saw this as a grand opportunity… Not many people would be watching…

Shiki gave a small "eep" as she felt his hands on her hips. He pulled her towards him gently, and she instinctively held up her hands to his chest to steady herself. When they realized the position they were in (thankfully hidden beneath the water surface), they were reduced to a rapid blushing fit. That they were half-naked and clinging to each other in such a delicious intimate way made their blushes even worse. So naughty!

Neku's heartbeat could be felt in Shiki's fingers as her hands stayed plastered to his bare chest. "Wh-What are… you doing?" she stammered, though she wasn't angry or frightened, more like curious.

He took a while to find his voice, stuck like a frog in his throat. "I was thinking that now would be a good time to, you know…"

"…kiss?"

"Uh-huh…"

"Gee, Neku…" gasped Shiki, feeling slightly squeamish from the ticklish feeling of his fingers playing at her hips. "I dunno… it sounds exciting… Should we?"

"Only if you want to."

She looked around again to ascertain that everyone else was busy and not focused on the two of them. The beach was all but filled with lazy sunbathers, so they had a good degree of privacy, that was for sure.

Her heart was going crazy. "Neku…" she whispered, just audible enough to be heard above the roar of the waves, "I… I don't mind if you want to kiss me here."

"You don't mind? For… real?"

"Yeah. I think this might actually be kinda fun." She flashed him a demure yet alluring smile.

"I think so too…" And as he said the words he approached her with his lips. She took this as a sign to do the same, so she did.

Shiki never would have thought that the first kiss they would share would be at the beach, floating near the coast, straight out of some romantic movie. A _sexy_ kiss. Well, Neku was sexy to her, and he thought as much about her too, so it was easy to see how they would feel about this. This was driving them to the brink of insanity, but persevere they must. This was not the time to consult Dr Fumiko's recommended book… That could wait till much later!

The sun was pleasantly warm, the atmosphere was peaceful, and the watery touch of the ocean on the couple's skin was comfortable. On top of that they were this close to their first kiss. Easy now… Just a few more millimeters, and bam! There would be world peace.

Alas, world peace was not possible. Out of the blue, and all of a sudden (seriously, how many "all of a sudden" moments must this story have?), Neku felt something wet and slimy slap against his back. He gave a grunt, and both of them opened their eyes in alarm.

What was this… thing? It wasn't Shiki's hands; they were on his chest. And if you were to hypothesise that she had wrapped her legs around his entire body, I'll whack you on the head because that's not only disgusting, but completely ludicrous. Only an octopus can do that, and _Shiki is not an octopus_.

But the octopus theory wasn't too far wrong.

A searing pain spread across the skin on his back, and he started yelling and thrashing about trying to shake the offending object off of himself, to no avail. Before a panicking Shiki – as well as the beachgoers who had now perked up – could do anything to help, Neku sliced through the water like a blade as he made hurriedly for the shore, whereupon he immediately resumed his struggle with the unwelcome guest. She quickly followed and the beachgoers plus the lifeguard rushed over to see what the matter was.

Neku sure had bad luck.

Of all the misfortunes to happen, why did it have to be a live jellyfish clinging onto his back?

XOXOXOXOXO

With the help of everyone, Neku managed to have the jellyfish extricated from his back, but its stings made his situation serious enough to be admitted into hospital. It was a good thing, however, that its poison, while painful, was very mild. He would live to see his grandchildren.

But it sure puzzled everyone. True, once in a long while a jellyfish would wash up on the beach. But they rarely posed a problem for swimmers, if at all. So why there was one near to the coast was a mystery.

Mystery or no, Neku was crying inwardly as he lay on his stomach in a stuffy hospital bed.

It was his best chance to kiss Shiki, the setting was both romantic and highly arousing, and she was decked out in a hot bikini to boot! And he had missed it! All because of that stupid jellyfish! ! !

"Neku, are you feeling better today?"

"The stings I got on my back still hurt and my arms are all tingly and paralysed, though the doctors said I'll be fully cured in a few days. Until then, this sucks majorly."

"It's a terrible thing to happen to you, yes," said Shiki empathically, "but I'm just glad that you're alive."

"Yeah… but our kiss… we couldn't do it…"

"Th-That's a terrible thing too, but hey… it'd be ten times worse if I didn't have anyone to kiss."

Neku sighed. "Yeah… Sorry if I sounded like a whiny, complaining kid."

She smiled at him warmly. "It's okay. If I were you, I think I'd feel the same way. Oh yeah, before I forget, I brought along a _bento_!"

"Fried tofu?" asked Neku with a knowing smile. He brought himself up into a sitting position.

"Yup! And haddock tempura, as I had promised!"

"Whoa, thanks, Shiki. I appreciate all of your effort." His eyes were sparkling with gratitude. This was one great benefit of being in a relationship: there was always someone to care for _and_ care for you! He wanted to cry.

"I can never get tired of this." But before he could even think of taking the lunchbox, Shiki snatched it out of his reach with an "Ah ah ah."

Initially confused, Neku soon realized what it was that she was up to. _Don't tell me…_

And true enough, as expected, she took up a piece of fried tofu from the lunchbox in her chopsticks, extended it towards his mouth, and with the cutest grin ever, cooed, "Now, Neku, say 'Ahhh'…!"

"Sh-Shiki…" He wanted to slap his forehead in amused exasperation, but he didn't feel like it with the jellyfish poison still in his twitching muscles.

"What?" she said nonchalantly, a hint of mischief in her voice. "It's not like you can help yourself. Plus, you know how much fun this is for me…" She regressed into a fit of silly giggles.

What she said was true. Neku couldn't do much for himself, and so despite his growing embarrassment, he let her have her way, gleefully feeding him mother hen-style. And though he'd rather feed himself, he at least found solace in the knowledge that Shiki loved him as much as he did her, and for that he was eternally grateful.

And of course, her food was exquisite. Fried tofu and haddock tempura were two things he could never get enough of. She was so good at cooking it was unbelievable. He wanted her as his wife.

But they hadn't kissed up until now, no matter how hard they tried. Their personal victory was far from secured…

They weren't the type to give up so easily, though… Oh, you can be sure that even as the world was crumbling, the sun was melting and the apocalypse was close at hand, they would try and try again…

…in the next chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

**First Kiss (Part 3)  
><strong>by BrDPirateMan

Neku's encounter with the jellyfish during his trip to the beach was unpleasant but not fatal. He was discharged from the hospital after a few days, free to once again pursue the elusive rush of a sweet shared kiss with his ladylove.

They managed to find a quiet spot in Shibuya, not an easy feat as privacy was at a premium in this bustling city, and in celebration of his successful recovery, they were now cuddling and doing the sorts of things that couples often did. Practically no one was around in the backstreets of Udagawa at this time, so they were free to do what they wished without fear of repercussion.

Shiki, who was pinned against the colourful mural wall, whispered, "Neku, don't overstrain yourself now… You just got out of the hospital."

"I know." Neku was stroking her cheek softly, enjoying the way she was purring and moaning to his touch. "Well… this is kind of like therapy."

She giggled. "Nice one. Say…" Her eyes darted furtively to her left and right before turning back to him. "This is going to sound like retreaded territory by now, but…"

"…you want me to kiss you?"

"Yeah…"

"Then I wouldn't waste anymore time," said Neku, who promptly scooped her into his arms for a loving embrace.

He leaned in, and she leaned in too. Slowly and steadily, their lips glided towards each other, as if destined to meet on this day. Their minds were filled with all manner of romantic thoughts, blossoming like a whole field of beautiful flowers. Finally they were going in the right direction… again.

But no! The gods or whoever was upstairs controlling people's fates had to rain destruction on their romance once more. Suddenly from the shop nearby burst forth a sizable group of tourists, led along by a tour guide waving a flag like they were a flock of dumb sheep. They were obviously foreigners and/or Japanese who weren't familiar with Shibuya, and they were here to admire the sights and sounds of the city.

The next thing on their list of things to see and do was to watch the romantic goings-on between the two halves of a consistently unlucky couple.

Neku and Shiki froze when they found out they were the centre of attention for this mob of tourists. Exacerbating their embarrassment further was the tour guide, who, whether intentionally or not, seamlessly included them into her guided tour.

"…And here we have a sampling of an act from two of Shibuya's famous street performers. It looks like they're in the middle of enacting a love scene."

Shiki was most mortified. "Wh-What? !"

The tour guide continued, "Feel free to take some photos for your remembrance. These are, after all, part of an experience that is unique to Shibuya and found nowhere else." The tourists, unfamiliar with the city, believed her every word to be true and started snapping photos of our poor heroes, thinking that they were bona fide street performers.

The camera flashes, fast and furious, made everything look like they were under a stroboscope. "Argh!" Neku cried out, getting blinded real quick. "What the – Quit it, will you! We're not –"

"Neku, get your butt in gear and run!" Grabbing his wrist, Shiki dragged him into a frantic run through the nearest alley and didn't stop till they were back in the streets, far away from them.

When they were sure they had lost the tourists, they stopped to catch their breaths. Panting and heaving, their romantic atmosphere was all but shattered into oblivion. Woe was them!

"That was intense," gasped Neku, leaning against a wall.

"And this is ridiculous!" Shiki wanted to tear her hair out. "Every time we get in a good mood and find a good location, something always happens to stop us dead! I'm tired of this! Is there no end to the bad luck we have to put up with? !"

"Whoa, calm down…"

She grumbled, "I… I just want us to kiss already. Geez… what a hassle."

"I know…" He stroked her arm gently to calm down the raging beast in her. "Hey, let's go for some ramen, yeah?"

Back to Dogenzaka they went, where they were now having a nice simple meal of noodles and clear broth. As they reflected upon their past failures in silence, Neku suddenly had a brainwave. In a moment of clarity and sudden realization, he understood what exactly was the reason that they could never get to kissing. He wanted to slap his forehead; it was such a simple reason!

"Shiki, I've got it."

"Got what?"

"I know why we always fail at kissing," replied Neku, who had the air of someone who had finally solved a riddle that had perplexed him for weeks.

Though Shiki wasn't in the mood to bring up bygones long dead, she was nonetheless curious. "Well, why?"

"It's because we've always tried to kiss in a public place." Neku paused to slip more noodles into his mouth. "Remember? We've been trying at school, at the park, at various spots around Shibuya, and even at the beach far away from here. But nothing worked."

"Yeah… But I don't see how that makes any sense."

"It does," he said, suddenly feeling like a detective. "No matter how private a public place may seem, in the end, a public place is not a private place."

"Um… duh." Because she still didn't get it, she wasn't impressed. Maybe his explanation was too cryptic.

"Listen. It's all because there's no peace in a public place. If we want peace, we're going to have to do it in a place where we can be sure of privacy, like our homes, for example."

Shiki did a small gasp. "So… You're saying you want us to kiss at home?"

"Only then will it all work out, the way things look."

She stroked her chin, nodding slowly in agreement. "That might actually be a workable plan."

Growing uneasy from what he was about to ask next, he quavered, "So now the question is…

"Your house or mine?"

Their entire conversation had been largely ignored in the comfortable home-like ambience of the ramen house and the heavenly aroma of fine ramen. No one had paid any attention to the couple. But for a reason so inexplicable it could induce headaches, that last line simply had to be picked up by everyone's ears. He had tried to lower his voice as much as he could for those four words but… it was still somehow audible enough for all to hear.

The place went dead silent. Chopsticks stopped clicking about. Mouths remained slack, neither chewing nor swallowing. All eyes were directed at the boy and girl.

And Shiki wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out.

"Idiot!" she hissed at Neku, blushing deeply. "Do you realize what you just said? ! Do you think I'd –"

"No, no! S-Sorry," he whispered sheepishly, "that's not what I meant! Just… do you want to kiss at my house, or yours?"

The misunderstanding was cleared up well enough – of course Neku wasn't propositioning her – but everyone was still listening. And everyone was still shocked. If something wasn't done…

Shiki stood up from her seat and grabbed his collar, yanking him into a standing position. He protested, "Whoa, hey, what? What're you doing? I'm still eating –"

"We are out of here!" Leaving half-finished bowls of ramen behind – Neku's loss as he was treating – she dragged him out of the shop before things got seriously out of hand.

She dragged him through the streets for a second time, mere minutes after their first escape from utter and complete embarrassment at the hands of a bunch of overzealous tourists. They at last stopped in a residential part of Shibuya where there were a lot of apartment buildings and houses. Shiki wasn't an athletic person, so she had a hard time getting her exhausted system back to normal. But Neku had it worse.

His limbs looked ready to fall off and she was almost sure he would collapse unceremoniously in a pile of arms and legs. "Ugh… Shiki… Why… Why'd you make me run… so much… I'm still convalescing, you know…"

"…You brought this upon yourself, Neku."

"Argh… look, I'm sorry… okay? Ooh… My head. I can see all the colours of the rainbow…"

Well, Shiki did feel bad for making a recuperating person exert so much. At this rate, he might actually have to be readmitted into hospital, and that wasn't fun at all.

"Neku, you're going to need some rest."

"I know, Ms Obvious." Seeing him look so tired and pathetic took much of the sting from his sarcasm, though. It's not easy to be offended from a dying person, not that he was even close to dying, but you get what I mean.

"Come on. My house is close by. You can take a break and chill there."

He stiffened. Even though they had been going out for some time now, it suddenly occurred to him that he had never visited her home before, and vice versa. If she was offering him to rest at her place he wasn't going to refuse. It was a good chance to see what it was like inside; frankly, he was quite curious – of course any guy would be curious to know what his girlfriend's house looked like… what scrumptious secrets she may be hiding and all that… But there was also something else…

"Shiki…" he said breathlessly. "Your house… It's… It's a –"

As if she could read his thoughts, she finished for him, "A private place, yes. And… um…" She gulped and grew red. "…if you want, you could kiss me. M-My parents… They're on vacation for their wedding anniversary and I've got the whole house to myself, so… there's no one around to disturb us."

He wasn't sure if he was hearing things. Being rather unhealthy at the moment made him even less sure of himself. But no, he wasn't hallucinating, he wasn't schizophrenic, and he wasn't gripped by insanity. He heard her right.

And in addition to that, his male brain translated her words into: _Shiki and I are going to be alone at her home… We can get away with pretty much anything! This… This may be the chance we've been looking for!_

The thought of finally consummating… er, celebrating their relationship with a sweet innocent kiss made him so giddy that he could hardly stand on his already wobbly feet. So he didn't. He fainted and collapsed on the spot _happily_, waves of hormones coursing through his veins.

Shiki gaped in shock at her boyfriend's limp body. "Neku? Neku? ! Are you alright? ! …He's unconscious. But… why is he smiling? !"

XOXOXOXOXO

Neku awoke to the sound of his own cheeks being slapped gently but repeatedly. Shiki was trying to wake him up.

"Fwuh… urgh, Shiki, stop it… I'm awake."

She gave a sigh not of relief but of slight annoyance. "About time too. You were out cold for no reason."

"Out cold?" When he tried to shift into a sitting position, he discovered through his still-blurry vision that he had been lying on a couch. "What happened to me?"

"How should I know?"

"Ah… never mind. More importantly," he mumbled, gazing around the room, "what is this place? It's not my home."

Shiki handed him a glass of water. "Yeah, it's mine. My home. After you fainted on the streets, I had to drag you back here. Luckily it wasn't a long way, but… now my arms hurt a bit."

"Sorry. And thanks. You're a kind person."

She smiled and sat right next to him, purposely nudging very close to his body. Tired of beating about the bush, Shiki adopted a more straightforward approach to doing things and asked point-blank, like a shotgun to the face, "Neku, if you're not too sleepy right now, could you kiss me?"

…like a shotgun. BAM!

Filled with enough blushing heat to burn himself to death, Neku had to take a few moments to compose himself. "You've become so bold, Shiki," he said at last. He found himself backing away inch by inch on the couch while she crept closer and closer, like she was a stalking lioness moving in on its unsuspecting prey. But there was only so much of the couch he could back up into, and the armrest hit him in the butt rather rudely. He was trapped.

Her eyes glinted with hunger. And for the briefest second, she did look like a lioness, albeit a bespectacled one. He almost jumped out of his skin, stopping himself only when he remembered that animals don't wear glasses.

She pressed right up against him, their frames fitting perfectly. His heart thundered when he felt her soft hands on his chest.

"Neku, what're you waiting for?" she whispered, blowing into his ear seductively. "Come on. Let's kiss."

Without thinking, he blurted out, "Th-This new side of you is kind of disturbing…"

He subsequently suffered pain at her hands when she pinched the hell out of him.

"Ow! Ow! I just got out of hospital! I'm sorry! Quit it! …Please?"

"Way to ruin the atmosphere, you brainless idiot," said an indignant Shiki, "but I'm in a good mood, so I'll let your little spot of stupidity slide."

"Sorry… It's not that I don't love you, Shiki. It's just… this is unexpected of you."

She gave a short giggle, feeling better. "Well, when you're in love, strange things can happen."

"I don't mind this anyway."

"Heh…"

She approached him slowly, lips eager and straining to touch his. As she drew closer, she snaked her arms around his neck. "Is my home… private enough for you?"

"V-Very." _Oh god_, he thought, _my sweet and gentle girlfriend is a monster at home… A _hot_ monster._

"You don't know how… 'private' I can get with you, Neku," she growled, causing him to have some serious palpitations in the chest. His rising heartbeat could be measured in horsepower.

His eyes snapped shut, waiting for their efforts to finally come to fruition. There was nothing on their minds except romance. A bomb could explode right next to them and they wouldn't care. This opportunity had been guided to them by heaven. There was too much at stake to just give up now! It wouldn't be any longer… Their dreams of sharing a perfect first kiss would soon be realized!

…not.

Because, overcome by anxiety and nervousness, they became dizzy and simply collapsed into each other's arms and could do nothing more. Romance could be so stressful. They just lay there on the couch, groaning painfully from overheating and sensory overload.

And yes, I know you're just as disappointed as they are but… stop that booing!

"I-I'm sorry, Neku…" mumbled Shiki, steam rising from her head. "This… This is the best I can manage for now… ugh…"

"Y-Yeah… me too…" His hair looked like it had caught fire, the orange colour of his hair dye making it appear even more so.

Time passed like water as they waited for their brains to cool down and reboot. Their minds were zapped blank.

Shiki was the first to recover. "Whew… Maybe we should take a break, and think things through again." She drew a hand over her sweaty forehead. "We're just going to pass out from stress again if we rush in like this."

"Kissing is one of those 'easier said than done' things, huh…"

"For us, it feels like it's neither easy to say or do," groaned Shiki. "There… There must be something we're doing wrong. We just don't know what."

"So… do we have a timeout?"

"Yeah… timeout. I… I need to take a bath to cool down." Shiki rose from the couch and off of Neku. "We've been running the whole day, and I just want to wash off all this sweat. You should too. You go after me."

Maybe it was the intensity of the mental strain, but with his current inability to think clearly, Neku said the most incredible, most ridiculous and possibly the most perverted thing Shiki had ever heard in her life.

"Why don't we take a bath together instead? It'll save time."

She gasped and stared at him incredulously. It took Neku more than a few seconds to realize that there were some things that should never be said and he had just committed that very blasphemy. His doziness from earlier was to blame. But it was too late. Shiki was trembling from shock and outrage.

He tried to save himself. "Wait. Wh-What did I just say? !"

But it was in vain. She creamed him by pulling him into a headlock.

"ARGH! Ow ow ow! Shiki! I give! I give!"

"How dare you ask a girl for such a lewd request!" growled Shiki. "Do you think I'd agree to something like that so easily? !" She let go only after she was satisfied, but by then, his head had suffered its fair share of bruises from a series of intense and violent noogies.

"Ow… Ow, I'm sorry, Shiki… I… I wasn't thinking."

"Hmph! Honestly! You're so stupid and inconsiderate sometimes."

Neku rubbed his head. "Sorry… I didn't mean it."

She turned sharply around, her face out of his sight. "You're an idiot. A great big one. …Th-That said, I'd like to try taking a bath with you just once. Just… once…"

"I said I'm sorry already… I – What?"

She said nothing, trying to hide her trembling in anticipation and excitement.

"Shiki… Did you just say you want to – ? !"

"I-I'm going to start filling the tub now, so make yourself at home." She walked away hurriedly in the direction of the bathroom.

"Th-Then I got hit for nothing? ! Shiki, you…"

"Shut up!" And she slammed the bathroom door behind her, leaving him to spend the next few minutes in confusion. What exactly was going on with her?

Thinking about Shiki in nothing but a towel, giggling coyly and beckoning him with her finger, was an immense rush for Neku. His body temperature… it rose so high that he experienced spontaneous human combustion, or at least felt like it (it's the fire of love…). "This… This might be my best chance," he muttered, flames playing around his curled fist of determination. "I mustn't mess this up."

Conveniently, Shiki's toy plushie Mr Mew – which she made by herself – was sitting on the coffee table, staring right at him with expressionless eyes. He picked it up and, pretending it was his lovely girlfriend, started to bring it to his lips slowly and gradually. What he was doing, of course, was to get in some last-minute kissing practice.

"Must… practice… Ah… Shiki, I love you so mu– "

"Neku? ! What are you doing to Mr Mew? !"

Shiki's shrill voice broke his idiotic trance. When he opened his eyes, he found out that she had already emerged from the bathroom, having apparently readied the tub. And she was staring at him with a mixture of confusion and disgust. Surprised at her sudden appearance, he jumped. An interjection escaped from his throat, a bunch of silly jumbled sounds that could only be properly written as, "GRABABLEH? !"

"GRABA – what?"

"I-I'm sorry, Shiki," Neku laughed unconvincingly, sweat pouring down his face like he was caught red-handed (well, he _was_). "I was just… inspecting your lovely doll… Ahaha…"

"Whatever," she huffed. "Come." She grabbed him by the wrist and yanked him along to the bathroom. In the meantime, Mr Mew was very relieved.

"Wait, Shiki," said Neku, actually feeling scared about his girlfriend's strange behaviour. "Wait! Are… Are you sane?"

She didn't answer his frantic questions; instead she flung him into the bathroom where a tub with comfortably tepid water sat steaming. In spite of her obvious embarrassment and nervousness, she commanded him quite forcefully, "Get in the tub now. I'll join you in a minute."

"B-But Shiki, this is…"

"I SAID GET IN!" And with that, she slammed the door shut with a bang, causing him to jump two feet in the air.

Neku didn't know what to make of his situation. Was she angry? Well, she sure looked like she was mad, but if she really was in a foul mood, common sense dictates that she wouldn't agree to take a bath with him. Why, she'd keep hitting the living daylights out of him for having said something so perverted, wouldn't she? But… if she actually had a dominatrix-like desire to punish people by providing them with violent pleasu–

"No! Dammit, she's not like that!" He shook his head vigorously to get all thoughts of a leather-clad Shiki out of his head. "The Reapers' Game shouldn't change her so much." Yes, she may have some psychotic tendencies – an occasion where she tried to force his pants off of him just to fix a loose button comes to mind – but that's not nearly enough to justify that she was, indeed, a crazy person.

He didn't know what to do. But she had given him some orders, and in quite the frightening way too. For now, he decided, the best and safest course of action would be to do as she asked, even if it was terrifically uncharacteristic of her. Better than getting another noogie to the head, and his hair was ever so precious. And so he stripped down and hopped into the bath.

For the next sixty very tense seconds, the four words he kept repeating to himself ad nauseam were, _What is going on?_ His feelings were a complete mess. He was naturally excited at the prospect of sharing the same bath with a cute girl, but generally, his mind was sprinkled with a substantial helping of puzzlement.

Just as he was about to formulate another theory for her peculiar behaviour, the door opened, and Shiki stepped inside the bathroom.

The first thing Neku noticed was that apart from a flimsy towel, she was wearing _nothing_. Just like in his dreams. But unlike in his dreams, she didn't even wrap it around her body. It was just hanging loosely in front of her, like a curtain. If a draft happened to billow about…

He had to quickly jam two fingers into his nostrils to stop the blood from gushing out. Of course he didn't mind the sight of a near-naked Shiki because it was even better than his dreams but it was too much for his blood pressure!

Without thinking, he spluttered, "Shiki! Y-You're still indecent!"

Shiki's facial redness grew to a worrying intensity. "Shut up! You're the one who's indecent! Asking me to get naked in the bath together with you!"

"What? ! I never asked you to specifically 'get naked'! Besides, I was dozy and I didn't really mean it, and anyway, you're the one who _wants_ to bathe with me in the first place!"

"That… I…" Realising that she was losing this argument, she simply snapped, "J-Just shut up! And… And turn around! I don't want you staring at me as I get in the tub!"

Neku felt slightly disappointed. What guy wouldn't when he knew that he wasn't allowed to catch even a millisecond-long glimpse of his girlfriend getting into the tub together with him? He grudgingly turned to face the other way, wishing that he had eyes at the back of his head… or at least a mirror in front of him.

Shiki must have sensed the tension building up within Neku. Now, it wasn't that she didn't trust him. But if you were in her shoes, you probably would do what she was about to do too.

"Hey, Neku?"

"Y-Y-Yes?"

"Close your eyes. I need to get inside the tub."

"What?" By instinct he turned around to talk to her but got a swift smack upside the head. Shiki then swiveled his head in the right direction by force with her free hand.

"Just do it. I… I don't want you seeing my reflection in the bathroom tiles!"

Neku snorted in amusement. She could be so cute when she was nervous. "Um… they're matte, you know. Plus I'm looking away from you anyway. I can't see anything even if I wanted to."

Shiki gulped. "And… y-you want to?" Feeling vulnerable she clutched the towel closer to her body.

"Uh…" Toughest question ever…

"N-Never mind! Look, just close your eyes, okay? ! I… To be honest, I'm very nervous right now… At least cooperate with me till I get in."

"Fine, I'll be good." So for a completely needless reason, he closed his eyes shut. A sneak peek was now totally out of the question. At least he could still listen to the delicious sounds of her dipping into the water… That might be interesting…

"And before I forget, cover your ears."

"Huh? But… But what's the point? !"

Shiki pretended to make her annoyance seem more severe and serious than it should. "Oh, I see. If you're going to refuse to do what I ask of you, then I guess you can bathe alone…"

No! Neku's best chance to share a bath with the pretty Shiki Misaki was swirling down the drain! He panicked and for good reason. "No, no! Okay, I got it. I'll face the other way, I'll close my eyes and even my ears are sealed. I promise. So… any other of my five senses you want me to switch off?"

"Yes… your sarcasm."

"Th-That kinda hurts my feelings, Shiki…"

Like an idiot, Neku sat there in the bath, body all scrunched up and facing the wall, with his eyes squeezed shut and hands over his ears. Shiki saw how ridiculous he looked – like some sort of twisted take on an Egyptian mummy – and was powerless to resist a giggle. It was all the more gleeful for her because she knew he couldn't hear her laughter.

But onto the main matter at hand. Here she was venturing into very dangerous territory. She loved Neku, and he was a normal guy, but if she made one wrong move, he might shed all of his inhibitions and turn into a mega pervert. Her safety was at stake. He was a ticking time-bomb with a live fuse… and depending on what she did now, she might make that fuse shorter or make it even shorter. Either way, this being a matter of not if but when, she was doomed.

And knowing how tight a situation she was in, she was naturally quite afraid. How did it come to this? When Neku suggested taking a bath together, she was delighted. It conjured up images of them relaxing together in a hot spring, with not a single soul to disturb them so they could be as lovey-dovey as they wanted… feeding each other grapes or even fried tofu or something. True, a bathtub was no substitute for the mixed section at a public bath late at night when no one else was around, but it was better than nothing. It might even serve as practice for when they would go to bathe at a hot spring for real. (…Bathing practice?)

She had come this far, though, and to back out was not an option. The point of no return had long been passed, and now it was time to eat the music… or whatever proverb that is. Throwing caution to the wind and her towel onto the nearby rack, she prepared herself.

_Neku isn't shallow_, she thought to herself as she went into the bathtub, right behind him. _He can be a bit of a pervert at times, but then most boys are. But he's nice and sincere. He wouldn't break this promise. He wouldn't peek._

True to her expectations, he did not peek at her, but it would be a stretch to say that he didn't _want_ to. The light ripples she made when she slipped into the water tickled him, and though he could neither see nor hear, it didn't mean he couldn't _think_, and the sensations on his back triggered some very tantalizing fantasies… He could almost visualize Shiki dipping her long slender legs into the water, and that was just the start.

If Shiki knew what sort of crazy stuff was going on inside his head, she might have asked him to shut his brain off in addition to covering up his eyes and ears.

The whole thing couldn't have lasted more than three seconds, but it filled him with more lust and hormones than he could handle. However, being a gentleman, he didn't want to hurt Shiki's feelings by taking advantage of her. The result was a battle of epic proportions against himself. As much as he hated to admit it, however, it was a losing battle. The white flag was within arm's reach, ready to be waved at any time so he could completely devour her.

Our cheery bespectacled seamstress friend – the kinder half of the two protagonists – was experiencing her own set of similar problems too. She was feeling extremely bashful from staring at his slim but wiry back – a kind of guilty pleasure for her. He wasn't muscle-bound at all, but at least his body wasn't _ugly_. She was quivering so much that the water surface was close to churning.

All the while she was thinking about how a relatively simple problem of how to have their first kiss could evolve into a much more delicate and complex situation of positively scandalous nature. How indeed! We're not getting off-track, are we now?

"Hey, Shiki," called out Neku blindly, "are you done yet?"

She was about to reply when she remembered that with his hands over his ears, he was essentially deaf. With a chuckle she gently grasped them and pulled them away (his hands, not his ears) so he could hear like a normal person once more.

"Silly," she muttered smilingly. "Of course I am. Now let's just try to relax, yeah? We've had a crazy day."

He blushed at the touch of her hands on his, slowly opening his eyes. "Yeah… um… really crazy."

"Well, the worst is over, so… wanna hear about my day?"

They had a nice chat in the bath, and as they grew more and more comfortable with each other, the initial awkwardness that arose from sitting in the same bath au naturel quickly dissipated. If you didn't know that they were in the bathtub, you would have thought they were having a fairly common conversation.

"…And then Eri got mad at him and dumped him. Quite a shocker, huh, Neku?"

"Yeah…"

"Neku, you're spacing out. What's wrong?"

"Nothing… It's just… do I have to keep facing the wall? I've been talking over my shoulder for the past five minutes!"

Shiki froze. She knew it wasn't very nice of her to make him stay that way, but her modesty was more important. "But if you turn around, you'll see me…"

He tried to be as gentle as possible in reasoning with her. "Well, it's just weird like this… Plus, regardless of whether we're in a bath or not, isn't it rude to not look at the person you're talking to?"

She launched a counter-argument of her own, though it was weak and unconvincing because she was stuttering. "Neku… d-do you really want to see me naked that much?"

"Th-That's not it!" he spluttered partially in denial. "I'm just saying that people should face each other when they talk. Besides, Shiki… you're pretty, and… and you've got a cute face. Is it not a bad thing to want to gaze at your face?"

A cherry tint coloured her cheeks. "Er… um…" Her faltering speech indicated that she was getting flustered, but at the same time, a growing smile was spreading across her lips.

"Okay, Neku," she said, her voice soft and whispery. "Y-You can turn around. But only if you promise not to do anything funny to me."

"I… I really can?" He wondered if he was on one of those TV prank shows. But even though this may seem too good to be true, in the end, it was true… and good!

"Yes."

"Shiki, I promise I wouldn't do anything to upset you, so… may I?"

"…Alright."

He turned around as soon as he heard the last syllable of her confirmation, so impatient and excited he had been to see some skin! When he finally earned a good look at her, all he could see were her bare shoulders and her face looking all fresh and pretty with that adorable blush. The damp hair that framed her head lent her a beguiling mature beauty that was a far cry from her normal appearance which was plain but still likeable. If she looked this gorgeous above the water surface, Neku thought to himself, then _below_ it she must be…

"Neku," she gulped, "I'm flattered that you think I'm cute, but firstly, please stop trying to see through the water at me. And secondly, why are you pinching your nose like that?" She fidgeted from his awestruck gaze and instinctively wrapped her arms around her body tighter.

He couldn't say that he was stifling his nosebleed. "Oh, I'm trying to stop myself from sneezing," he lied through his, uh, nose.

Something about the way she was looking at him askance told him that she didn't buy it…

"Um…"

"Shiki, what's wrong? I'm not making you uncomfortable, am I?"

"No, no. But… I know you must be thinking how strange all of this is. I mean, we're sharing a bath!"

Not knowing how to respond, he didn't say anything. After all, it wasn't very appropriate to say "That's alright, I don't mind at all!"? Lewd undertones were the destroyer of many a platonic romance like theirs…

"…But we're going out, right?" said Shiki, her heart _ba-dump_ing. "And… And if we're lovers, we… we should be comfortable with each other's bodies… I mean, each other. That's why I wanted us to bathe together."

He struggled with his nose again.

"N-Neku, don't get a nosebleed over a slip of the tongue! You idiot!"

"No, no, I'm holding in my sneeze. Don't… Don't misunderstand."

"Hmph. But back to what I was saying…" She cast earnest brown eyes at him and spoke softly. "We're going out, so I want to spend some good times with you. Maybe we could watch the fireworks festival hand-in-hand. Or go sightseeing in Akihabara or something."

He smiled. "I'd like that too. That ought to be fun."

"…Even snuggling up on the couch is good."

"Yeah… That'd be fun too."

Both of them sat in the tub blushing madly. In the steamy silence of the bathroom they swore they could almost hear each other's thoughts. Thoughts like "He can be so cute" and "Dammit, I just can't see anything in the water." No prizes for guessing whose thoughts belonged to which teenager.

Eventually, Shiki broke the spell that befell them. "Well, I guess I'm done bathing and it's time for me to towel off, so… Neku, would you be so kind as to turn around and close your eyes and ears again?"

The bathwater was growing cooler now, so it was probably best to get dressed. But for Neku, those blissful few minutes they shared together weren't nearly enough. Their bath seemed way too short! It's unfair how time flies when you're having fun…

He refused to budge.

"Neku? Did you hear me? I was asking you to – Eek!"

To her horror, he nudged closer until he was right in front of her. She tried to scurry backwards, but it was no use. He had her trapped, cornered like a timid mouse about to be eaten by a cat.

"Wh-What're you doing, Neku? !" she yelped, panicking and covering her chest with her arms. "I thought you promised not to do anything weird!"

He paused, as though reflecting upon his actions. She stared him down, bracing herself for the inevitable outrage to her modesty. Of course boys couldn't be trusted. Not even Neku! The tension between them was greater than what ten years' worth of highway car chases and giant explosions could provide. The very air could catch fire. Heck, even the water could catch fire.

Just when she couldn't take it anymore, just when she was ready to punch his jaw at a moment's notice, he said, "Shiki… How about if we kiss here?"

Her eyes went wide like she was told that The Prince was quitting showbiz. "I-In the bath? ! Wh-Why? !"

He touched her cheek softly, making her flinch, but she didn't jump out of the bath in revulsion. Said he, "I know it's strange and maybe inappropriate, but… it'll make a nice memory. Something we can look back to and say how much fun we had."

Even in her frazzled mind, Neku's words made sense. Yes, kissing in the bathtub with no clothes on was over-the-top, but it was also incredibly exciting. It was akin to the kind of excitement you feel when you perform a dangerous dastardly deed and get away with it, laughing maniacally all the way home.

…Okay, maybe not that. But you understand, right?

And something about his fierce blue eyes reached out to her without being forceful at all. For a fleeting moment, she thought he had the look of one of those handsome, flirtatious, big-eyed male protagonist characters often seen in romance manga novels. A look that, while fresh, was also extremely creepy. His eyes weren't even _that_ big to begin with…

Among other risks, there was the small chance that one of them might accidentally pull the plug in the bathtub and the water would drain away, revealing their glorious naked selves to each other, but… that horrifying imagery aside, she was curious and eager to kiss him here. And if that misfortune did happen, she could always beat the heck out of him to make him forget.

"Okay Neku, you got me," she said, fixing him with an inviting gaze. "Go on…"

He clutched her bare shoulders with his hands, and she lightly rested her own hands around the nape of his neck, like a pair of seasoned lovers. As per the usual routine for kissing, they closed their eyes, leaned in at a snail's pace… Even though their bare bodies weren't touching, they had never felt so hot in their lives. Shiki was both excited and somewhat ecstatic, Neku even more so. Oh, joyous day!

"I love you," whispered Neku as he angled his head.

"You mean the world to me," said Shiki breathlessly. "I love you too. Now kiss me already, you big fool… Kiss me n–"

"ACHOO!"

At the final decisive moment, before they could engage each other in a hot sensuous lip lock, Neku sneezed.

…Yes, he actually sneezed. At that very crucial time. Can you believe it?

Shiki got a rude shock in the form of a blast to the face at close range. And when she opened her eyes to an apologizing, sniveling Neku, she began to tremble from frustration. How could such a perfect opportunity be ruined so terribly? All of the ambience, all of the playful sexiness, and all of the love blew away with the wind… or in this case, his unceremonious sneeze. Just like that.

Argh. Face-palm. Head-desk. Body-floor.

"Ugh… Excuse me. And… there. That takes care of it. Um, Shiki?"

She exploded in fury. "What is wrong with you? ! Our first kiss at long last and you dare to _spoil_ it? !"

"Wh-Whoa, Shiki. Sorry for sneezing, but no matter how you look at it, that was out of my control…"

"Yeah, well, it still ticks me off! Do you realize how stupid this is? !"

"I… I'm sorry… W-We should probably pick up where we left off."

"Forget it," pouted Shiki, arms crossed angrily and facing away, refusing to even look upon him. A dismayed Neku directed pitiful apologetic eyes at her, seeking forgiveness, but she wasn't so merciful. "Look, I'm not in the mood anymore. We'll kiss some other time."

What? ! The girl of his dreams didn't want to make out anymore? ! Even when she was in a nice comfortable bathtub with her gallant boyfriend? ! This was a nightmare! He could cry. His best chance… gone…

"Now turn around; I'm done with this bath and I – er… N-Neku? !"

He raised his hanging head just enough to look her in the eyes. "I… I only wanted to – "

Everything he said after that became unclear. She was aware of something touching the inside of her leg. Something that felt suspiciously like his hand… Come to think of it, only his right hand was visible above the water surface, so that might mean his left was…

Yup, Neku's left hand had found its way onto Shiki's thigh, but it was purely by accident in the earlier chaos. He didn't know it was her he was touching. And the natural viscosity of the water made it hard for him to discern if he was even touching anything in the first place. Plus he was kinda distracted by Shiki's outburst.

When she felt his hand creep up her leg once more (unintentionally, of course), it gave her a nice layer of goosebumps all over and that was the final straw.

She gave an almighty scream – "YAAAAH! ! !" – and stood straight up in a hurry to shake off his roving hand. Taken by surprise at her second and more severe outburst, he reared backwards as the water splashed onto his face.

"Guh! Shiki, wh-what's the big idea? !" He was busy wiping water out of his eyes so he could see.

"I told you not to do anything funny!" she snapped. "I trusted you, you moron!"

"What are you talking about? ! I didn't do… any… th…"

"If you're trying to explain yourself, I can't hear your mumbling! And what are you looking at anyw–"

It was here that their next source of fatal embarrassment reared its ugly head. Recall that Shiki was now standing.

Recall also that right now, she hadn't gotten dressed yet.

So there she stood dripping wet in her birthday suit before Neku, who was in a complete state of both bewilderment and fascination.

Neku Sakuraba went to heaven. As thanks for witnessing such a picturesque sight, he promptly lost control of the restraints on his nose. An unrealistically massive amount of blood sprayed out in the mother of all nosebleeds… and it splattered all over Shiki, coating her in a layer of gruesome body paint.

With blood cascading down her entire skin, with spatter on the shower curtain, and a bloodless silhouette of her body outline behind her on the wall, it must have seemed like the goriest murder scene ever. But there was no murder, though there would soon be one…

She screamed the whole city down. "KYAAAAH! ! !"

"Shiki – Ow!"

"Neku, you… you IDIOT! PERVERT! DEVIANT! I'll KILL you! KILL… YOU! ! !"

And thus ended his short-lived joy. "Shiki! Wait, I'm – ow! – sorry! OW! MY SPLEEN!"

…I'll leave it to you to imagine how she mercilessly pummeled him into mincemeat. Violence… can be disturbing. Not to mention saddening. The poor guy. To be beaten to a pulp right after he was discharged from the hospital…

Somewhere far away in a distant realm, an ominous voice could be heard: "Finalist. Shiki Misaki wins. Fatality. Flawless victory."

XOXOXOXOXO

For the next four days, Shiki gave Neku a wide berth. So he was unsurprisingly sad. Not only could he not see her, he also couldn't sample her fried tofu. Now, with only substandard school lunches to tide him over till the end of the day, he was the gloomiest person in Shibuya.

And the injuries he sustained from her delayed his full recovery from the jellyfish fiasco.

But it wasn't all that bad… It's not often you can get to see the love of your life looking so… stunning. Ahem.

Eventually, after a profuse apology and much kowtowing from Neku, Shiki finally forgave him, albeit just a teeny bit grudgingly. It's not easy to let someone off after an incident like that.

"I guess I owe you one now," said Neku, trying to laugh it off. They were on the rooftop at school, having had lunch, and were now chatting.

Shiki produced a lollipop from her pocket and peeled the wrapping away. "Seriously!" she huffed, starting to suck on it. "You've got to learn to be more appreciative of a girl's feelings."

"I'm really sorry about everything." He did a small bow in embarrassment. "And I know I'm not exactly the smoothest guy around, but… I'm learning."

She twirled the lollipop in her mouth. "We haven't kissed yet either. When you think about it, it's absurd that we've failed so many times, whether it's at home or in public."

"We'll think of something to get round our problems… Rest assured we will. But in the meantime, let's just concentrate on being happy. If you're happy…" He wrapped his arm lovingly around her shoulder. "…then so am I."

Her blush reached right up to her ears and she was forced to look away. "D-Darn it, Neku… You say you're not smooth, but you're smooth enough as is."

They spent a few quiet moments, basking in each other's warmth.

Shiki spoke up after a while. "Hey, Neku?"

"Yeah?"

"I've… I've got a little something for you."

"For me? What is it?"

"This."

She took the lollipop out of her mouth and then swiftly crammed it between his lips. At first, he was taken aback. But when the true meaning of what she did came to light, his eyes grew wide in realization.

The lollipop hung comically from a corner of his mouth. "Shiki… This… Was this an… an _indirect_ kiss?"

"That's the best we can do for now," she chuckled, standing up. "But it doesn't count as a proper kiss, okay? Just a stopgap to prep us for the real thing."

Neku wanted to say something, to say thanks, but all that came out of his mouth was a series of unintelligible garbles.

Shiki, however, was well aware of what he was thinking. "You're welcome, Neku." With a giggle and a blush that made her look so cute, she took the stairs down and left him in peace.

"B-Best thing ever…" he muttered crazily to himself, thoroughly enjoying the sweet taste in his mouth. His hands were shaking from delight, tears were running down his face, and a torrent of blood was trickling from his nose. Even though a real kiss would be way better, for now, it was truly, like he had put it, the _best thing ever_. A lollipop fit for a king.

"I need to take my time savouring this to the fullest." And he did. He made sure to leave no trace, licking it so thoroughly that a grooming cat would be put to shame. And when he was finally done and satisfied, he kept the lollipop stick for remembrance.

But his happiness came at a price. Having indulged himself so greatly, he had lost track of time, and by the time he hurried back to class, he was exceptionally late.

"Quite the tardy one you are, Neku Sakuraba!" snarled the teacher. "What's the big idea of coming back this late to my class? !"

However, the overwhelming laughter from his classmates and the detention he spent in the library afterwards couldn't hamper his delirious joy. It wasn't his first kiss by a long shot, but it was still incredibly powerful. As he sat fantasizing and drooling with a big grin and a faraway look in his eyes, the few students lingering around grew more and more uneasy. The librarian nearby was the same way, and at last she could take it no longer.

"Stop it, kid!" she snapped. "You're scaring everyone here!"

Unfortunately, her pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears and everyone in the library was subject to his worrying behaviour for two whole hours until he went home.

XOXOXOXOXO

Right now, sad to say, this story must reach its conclusion because, well… my hands are tired from writing…

But it was a marvelous journey of romance and discovery, wouldn't you agree? Even though they had failed miserably so many times, the fact that they never gave up, not even once, was proof of how much they loved each other. We could all learn something from them.

Even all of those failures would become something to reflect on later in life as well as a source of good laughs. When they can poke fun at themselves, suddenly nothing would seem so bad at all. Even a jellyfish sting would be peanuts.

How Neku and Shiki would eventually go about having their first kiss is another story for another day… For now, however, our favourite couple must embark on another gallant attempt to seal their first kiss…

"N-Neku, I'm so happy," said a blushing Shiki, as she intertwined her fingers around her boyfriend's. "This movie is great!"

"You've been going on about how good this film is going to be," said Neku, smiling, "so I thought, 'Why not watch it and have fun on a date at the same time'?"

They were watching an interesting romantic comedy in a cinema, and of course, they were watching from the back seats, where they could take advantage of their privacy…

"It's everything that I imagined it to be." And she leaned closer.

"And more, because of you." He did the same.

"Oh, Neku…"

Their breathing was hot and quick. Inside their shoes, their toes were wrestling with each other. And their insides were rearranging themselves into a great big visceral mess. Their lips came closer… and closer… And then…

_Click._

…they were interrupted by the glare of a flashlight in their faces. Unfortunately for them, the usher had come over to give them a piece of his mind.

"Kids," he whispered curtly and sternly, "please remain quiet."

They apologized on the spot, and it went without saying that yet again, they were disappointed at another failure. But their perseverance was remarkable.

As soon as the usher turned on his heels and walked away, Neku spoke into Shiki's ear, "We could always try again after the movie, you know. Since there'll still be time after this, how about we hit up a bathhouse? There's one not too far away from here."

Delight and anticipation turned her face a nice shade of pink. "Mixed section?"

"Naturally. And at this time of night, there aren't many people. So you know what that means…"

"Goodness, I'll love that!" she squealed, hugging his arm. "Neku, you're the best!"

Ah… it's so romantic! Their adventures certainly are crazy and no less kooky, but… it's still so very romantic!


End file.
